Bedtime Story
by jade30
Summary: A little boy demands a story. What's a babysitter to do?
1. Prologue

_The characters of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi…I'm just borrowing them.  =)_

**Bedtime Story: Prologue**

"Goodnight story, please tell me a goodnight story!"  The man's forehead furrowed.  The boy's mother was out with her sisters and he was stuck on baby-sitting duty.  He had quickly discovered that bathing an energetic four year old was a challenge all its own and now, after wrestling the rambunctious bundle into pajamas, it was Storytime?  How much more difficult could it get?

"Uhm…well…see…about that, I think your mom is a much better choice for these things," the man caught the child in mid leap.  

"But mommy said that, if I was good, you would tell me a goodnight story!" the boy looked at his baby-sitter with shiny puppy dog eyes.  "Wasn't I good tonight?"

The man smiled despite himself.  "You mean before you spilled almost all of your dinner on yourself 'by accident?'  Or after you 'accidentally' pulled me into the bathtub with you?"

"Uhm…both?" the boy asked hopefully.

Trying to look stern, the man replied, "You can have your story on one condition…you get under the covers and zip your lip!"

"Hooray!" was the enthusiastic reply.  After one last bounce, the tiny pajama-clad body slipped between the bedclothes.

Sighing, the storyteller took his place next to his son's bed.  "Okay, here's your story.  But I gotta warn ya, I'm not nearly as good as your mom with this kinda' stuff.  So, I don't want to hear anything about how boring it is.  And no asking me to start over and tell another story just 'cause you don't like this one, all right?"

Eyes wide, the little boy nodded.  "Okay, but just one thing…"

"Yes?"

"Can there be a prince and princess and monsters and stuff?"

"Hey, I thought you said just ONE thing!"

"Please?  All the stories that mommy tells me have a prince and princess and monsters and stuff in them."

"I thought I told you I'm not as good as your mom at these things!"  He looked down and groaned at the sight of his charge's pleading face.  "Okay, okay, I'll see what I can do!"  The man sat quietly for a moment, absentmindedly stroking the boy's hair.  

"Do you need help?" the little boy asked, in serious voice.  "Mommy's stories ALWAYS start with 'once upon a time…'"

The man smiled at the boy.  "Thanks for the help, kiddo.  I think I know what story I want to tell you now.  And, like mommy's stories, it starts with a 'once upon a time.'"


	2. The First Chapter

_Author's notes:  From this point on, side conversations between the father and son that are not directly involved with the "goodnight story" will be in italics.  _

**Bedtime Story: The First Chapter**

"Once upon a time, there was a prince named Sentaro.  When he was just a baby, the prince's father decided that his son would become the greatest martial artist in the entire world.  His father felt that the only way his son could become great was by starting his training when he was just a baby.  The prince's mother didn't want her son to be taken away, but she wanted her son to be the manliest of men, so she agreed on one condition.  If, the next time she saw the prince, she decided that he wasn't manly enough for her, something very bad would happen.

And so, Sentaro and his father went on a long journey.  During their journey, Sentaro's father trained his son in all kinds of secret special martial arts techniques.  Unfortunately, Sentaro's father was not always the best teacher," here the man frowned, "and the prince ended up with a couple of curses.

"The first curse was a terrible fear of cats.  To make matters worse, anytime Sentaro's fear of cats became overwhelming (that means it became really strong), he would turn into a cat himself!  

The second curse was much worse.  While training at some special springs, Sentaro fell in.  From that moment on, every time he got splashed with cold water, he turned into a girl.  Although he could change back into a boy with hot water, Sentaro hated this curse the most.  You see, his father had done a good job of teaching Sentaro that being manly was the only way to be.  Whenever Sentaro turned into a girl, he felt a lot less manly, which made him very sad.  The only thing that made him feel better about his water changing curse was that his father changed into a panda, which he thought was actually pretty funny."

_The man paused and looked down at his audience.  If the boy was asleep he could…"I'm not sleeping yet.  Keep telling the story."  
"I was just resting my voice," came the sheepish reply.  _

"So anyway, Sentaro and his father got into lots of trouble during their training journey.  Despite everything that happened to him, Sentaro was happy.  He would have been perfectly happy traveling all over the country, learning technique after technique.  His father however had other plans.  One day he told Sentaro that they were traveling to the kingdom of Nerima to meet his future wife.

'Wife!' Sentaro exclaimed.  'Who needs a wife?  I don't wanna get married!'

Sentaro's father told his son that, years ago, when the prince was a baby, he made a pact with his dear friend that their kingdoms would be joined.  The only way this could be achieved was through the marriage of Sentaro and one of the king's daughters.  No matter how much Sentaro argued and fought, his father refused to let Sentaro continue on the training journey.  They made their way to Nerima.  Sentaro complained the whole way to the castle.  He argued so much, that his father had to pick him up and carry him the rest of the way there.  Since it was raining the day they arrived in the kingdom, the prince was actually a princess the first time he met his future bride.  

_The man looked down at the hand tugging on his arm.  "May I please have a glass of water?"  
"Water?  I don't think there was any water in this deal."  
"Please?  All this listening makes me very thirsty."_

_Author's note: You may recognize some of the character names from Kosuke Fujishima's "Oh my goddess!"  I just thought it fit!  Expect more of the same, but not necessarily with the same results.  Does that make sense?   _=)


	3. The Second Chapter

**Bedtime Story:  The Second Chapter**

_"Did you get enough to drink?"  
"Hayup."  
"So…where was I?"  
"The prince is at the castle!"  
"Oh…that's right."_

"Like I said earlier, the prince was actually a princess the first time he met King Yuu and the three princesses.  

One of the princesses had long brown hair and a kind, gentle smile.  Another princess had short hair, brown and shiny.  Her smile was smart and sly, like a fox's.  The third princess had long hair, as dark as night.  When one of her sisters started to bother Sentaro, the third princess made her stop and asked Sentaro if she wanted to be friends.  Her smile was like sunshine that warmed Sentaro through and through."

_The man paused.  The next part of the story was a little more graphic than he wanted to explain to a little kid.  The fewer details he could dish out, the better.  So he changed the story a little.  We'll save that version for when he's a little older, he thought decisively.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Sorry buddy, for a second I forgot what happens next.  But I remember now."  
"Oh, goodie!"_

"When Skuld, the third princess, found out that Sentaro was a martial artist, she asked if they could spar in the castle dojo.  They had a good time sparring," the man paused to snicker softly, "and Sentaro learned that Skuld didn't really like boys…especially boys who were martial artists.  Because of this, Sentaro felt really bad when Skuld found out about his curse."

_"How did she find out?  Did he get splashed?"  
"You could say that…"_

"The story behind Sentaro's curse was soon revealed (that means they told everyone about it) and King Yuu proudly introduced the three princesses.

Belldandy, the princess with the soft smile, was the eldest.  She had taken care of the castle and the rest of the family when the queen died many years ago.  

Urd, the one with the cunning smile, was the middle princess.  She was in charge of the household accounts, and did her best to keep the kingdom prosperous.

The youngest princess, as you already know, was Skuld.  She was the heir to the family's martial arts legacy and the closest in age to the prince.  Despite the fact that neither she nor Sentaro wanted to be engaged, the rest of the family agreed that Skuld and Sentaro would be the two to unite the kingdoms.

Now matter how angry he seemed about the engagement, Sentaro was really secretly pleased.  He wasn't ready to get married, he would probably never be ready for THAT, but he decided that if he was going to marry someone, maybe marrying Skuld wouldn't be that bad.  After all, they were the same age and both liked martial arts (even though he was a lot better than she was).  But there was something else.  

Even though he had just met her, he felt comfortable around Skuld.  He was miserable when he first arrived at the castle but, the moment she smiled at him, he felt as if everything would be all right after all.  He soon discovered that, when Skuld smiled at him a certain way, he felt a fluttering in his heart, he went all gooey and gooshy and a funny grin wanted to creep it's way onto his face.  Unfortunately, Sentaro wasn't sure what to do with all these new feelings.  They made him feel soft and squishy inside and, as a result of his father's past speeches on manliness, he decided that soft and squishy feelings were definitely unmanly and bad.  Since Skuld's smiles tended to bring out these soft and squishy feelings the most, Sentaro did everything he could to keep those smiles from coming.  This meant calling her names like uncute, tomboy, and violent just to make her mad."  

_"Calling people names is bad, isn't it?"  
"Well, sometimes calling people names is okay if you mean it in a funny way."  
"Like when you call me monkey boy."  
The man laughed.  "That's right.  I call you monkey boy because you jump around like a monkey.  It makes you laugh when I do that, right?"  The little boy nodded.  "But, you should never call people names just to be mean."  
"I know!  But when you call Uncle 'Yoga Mr. P aren't you doing that to be mean?"  
The man cleared his throat.  "Hey, do you want to hear the rest of this story or not?"  
"Story!  Story!"_

"From that day on, Sentaro and his father, King Ginta, lived in the castle with Skuld and her sisters.  Life in Nerima was very interesting for Sentaro, Skuld, and the rest of the family.  All kinds of people appeared out of nowhere.  Some of them wanted to marry Sentaro, some of them wanted to marry Skuld, some of them wanted to marry the people who wanted to marry Sentaro and some of them…well, you get the picture.  On top of all this, demons and monsters were always popping up and kidnapping Skuld.  Needless to say, the very brave, very handsome Sentaro was always there to save the day.  It was very important to him to keep anyone from taking Skuld away.  For a long time, Sentaro thought that there wasn't a challenger he couldn't beat.  One day however, he met his match."

_"I need the bathroom!"  
"Now?  We're just getting to the good part!"  
"I gotta go…NOW!"  
"Can't you hold it?  I thought you were a big boy.  All big boys can hold it.  You're ruining the story here."  
"I AM a big boy!  I just really need to go.  If I don't go now, I might wet myself.  If I wet myself, I need to take another bath, new 'jamas, new blankies…"  
"Okay, okay.  So go to the bathroom already!"_


	4. The Third Chapter

_Author's note:  Okay, I admit.  Despite the fact that I'm a HUGE Ranma fan, I have only read the manga scans of Volume 38 which, for some reason I can't get to right now.  This, combined with other stuff I have read is what I based the last part of this fic on.  So, if the details of this next part are kind of vague, please forgive me.  I'll try to make up for it in other ways that I hope don't affect the story TOO much.  When I feel more comfortable with my familiarity with the last volume of the manga, I may rewrite this.  But, for now, I hope you enjoy what I have! _

**Bedtime Story:  The Third Chapter**

_"Is the bathroom break over?"  
"Hayup."  
"So I can continue the story now?"  
"YEAH!"_

"Like I said earlier, Sentaro was always rescuing Skuld from people, especially those who wanted to take her away from him.  Sentaro had learned a long time ago that he didn't hate the engagement with Skuld as much as he claimed.  As a matter of fact, he thought that someday, he really would marry Skuld.  Before he could marry her though, he wanted to get rid of the curse that changed him into a girl.  As long as he changed into a girl, there was no way that he was no way he could be completely manly.  After all, if he married Skuld, she'd be getting one of the best martial artists in the world.  Shouldn't he be the manliest of martial artists to boot?

One day, Sentaro left Nerima in search of his cure.  He had tried to cure the curse many times before, but each of his past attempts was quite unsuccessful (that means that they didn't work).  He was positive that this time the cure was in sight, so he left Skuld at home all alone so that she would be safe."

_The man swallowed.  The next part of the story was always difficult for him.  He could barely deal with it himself, how was he supposed to tell it to a four-year-old?  "This next part is kind of hard for me to tell," he admitted.  
"Why?"  
"Uhm…well…you know how sometimes something hurts you so much you can't speak?"  
"Like the time I fell out of the tree and it hurt so much all over I couldn't even breathe?"  
"Yeah, kind of like that.  Except that this is a different kind of hurt.  This part makes me remember things that make my heart hurt."  
"Oh," the boy whispered sympathetically.  "In that case, you don't have to tell EVERYTHING.  But…mommy says that, if you have a hurt, you have to tell someone so they can maybe fix it or else the hurt won't go away."  
The man smiled.  "Mommy is very smart.  How about I tell you the gist of it?"  
"What's the gist?"  
"The gist is the most of the story without all the gory details."  
"Okay.  I like the gist!"_

"Skuld was kidnapped and brought to the place where Sentaro was fighting a bad monster, the monster that wanted to take away his cure.  Because she wanted to help Sentaro, Skuld grabbed the magic wand that would help free him from his curse.  Unfortunately, the wand sucked up all the water out of Skuld's body and she shrank to the size of a tiny doll.  Sentaro was very upset.  He thought Skuld would be a doll forever!  When a soldier who knew the power of the wand told him that he could cure Skuld with another wand the monster had, Sentaro decided to battle the monster again so that Skuld could return to normal.  To keep Skuld safe, he tucked her into his shirt and kept her close to his heart.  Sentaro had to hurry because, if Skuld stayed in doll form for too long, she would remain that way forever.

Sentaro put all he had into that battle, but the monster refused to give up.  Finally, he put all his strength into one last move and blasted the monster into the heavens.  With the wand he was able to restore Skuld to her normal size, but it was too late…she had been a doll for too long.

Sentaro called Skuld's name out over and over, but she didn't answer. She was so still…it was like she was asleep.  Sentaro was so afraid that she would never wake up, that he would never be able to see her again.  He didn't know what he would do without Skuld in his life.  He got mad.  Why would she do that for him?  Why would she risk her life when he was so mean to her, when he called her names and said that he would never want to marry her?  Why…" the voice faltered.  

"Because she loved him," came a voice from the doorway.

_The man glanced up to see a woman standing just inside the room.  She crossed over to kneel down in front of him, taking his hands in hers and looking into his eyes._

"For all the names he called her, she called him names right back.  A lot of the time, she hit him for no good reason at all.  But, even though they fought all the time, they were also very kind to each other.  He had risked his own life for her many times before.  She thought it was only natural to return the favor.

When she grabbed the wand that she thought would cure his curse, she only did it because she knew that having the cure would make him happy.  She had stopped caring about his curse a long time before.  To her, his happiness was all she ever wanted.  She would risk anything to make him happy.  She loved him more than anything."

_"Even more than dessert?" the boy asked wonderingly.  
The woman smiled.  "Even more than the most delicious dessert you could ever imagine."_

"Sentaro didn't know how Skuld felt at all.  They were really good at hiding their feelings," the man continued.  "He held her and tried to wake her up, but nothing worked."

_"Did he give her a kiss?  In mommy's stories, the prince kisses the princess and she always wakes up."_

"That's a great question.  You see, since Sentaro grew up with his father, he didn't know anything about waking up sleep princesses.  Instead, he just cried and cried.  As he cried, he realized that he loved Skuld.  He wanted to marry her and make her his princess for the rest of his life and beyond.  He was mad and sad that he would never get a chance to tell her this.  He begged her to wake up.  He felt all his feelings for Skuld fill up every inch of his soul, his heart seemed to bubble up with the words, 'I never go to tell you that I love you!'" the man paused to look at the woman, his eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Skuld felt his words deep in her heart, the knowing spread throughout her body, filling her up with life from her head to her toes.  She looked up at Sentaro, all the joy inside of her sparkled in her eyes," the woman said, beginning to stand and pulling the man up with her.

"Sentaro knew at that moment that he was given a very special gift, a gift he would be sure to take extra special care of because he couldn't bear losing it ever again," the man tilted the woman's face up to meet his and began to lower his mouth to hers.

_"Less kissing, more story!" the boy demanded.  
The woman laughed.  "Less story, more sleeping.  We just got back.  Your mom will be up here in a minute to check up on you and your baby-sitter will be in big trouble if you aren't sleeping."  
"But Aunty 'Kane, Uncle Wanma isn't done yet!  Was that the end of the story, Uncle Wanma?"  
Ranma smiled.  "Actually, that was only the beginning."_


	5. Epilogue, the first part

**Bedtime Story:  Epilogue, the first part**

Later that night, Ranma and Akane sat on the roof watching the stars.  

"It must have been tough for you," Akane commented, studying Ranma closely.  "That last part isn't a part that you talk about very much."

"It isn't.  I knew I was going to have a real hard time telling it, but something Shinji said made me tell it anyway."

"Oh really?  What was that?"

"That 'if you have a hurt, you have to tell someone so they can maybe fix it or else the hurt won't go away.'"

Akane's face, earlier creased with concern, now crinkled with laughter. "That Shinji is more insightful than we give him credit for."

"He's a smart kid, but Kasumi deserves the credit.  She's the one that told him that."

"Well Ranma, did talking about it help?  Did the hurt go away?"

Ranma kissed the top of Akane's head.  "I don't know if it will ever really go away, but it did help a little…especially at the end."

"So," he continued, snuggling his wife closer.  "Just how much of that story did you overhear?"

Akane laughed.  "Enough to know what my favorite part is."

"Well, if you're good, maybe I'll tell it to you from the beginning sometime."

"Hmm…that would be very nice.  I don't think I'd mind hearing it over and over again.  You can tell it to our kids."  She took Ranma's hand and gently placed it over her belly.  "Starting with this one."


	6. Epilogue, the second part

****

Bedtime Story: Epilogue, the second part

Ranma grinned at Akane, who beamed back in a tiredly ethereal kind of way. He looked up from his study of his newborn son's face. "Do you think he's going to fall asleep? I mean, he just got out of there."

"I don't know…if I had the huge meal that he just had, a nap would be just the thing. Maybe you better help him along."

"You're right," he replied, tickling his son's full belly. "Hey, little Kenshin, here's a goodnight story to help you get to sleep. It has monsters and a handsome big mouthed prince and a beautiful tomboy princess…and it starts with a 'once upon a time…'"

__

Author's note: Well, that it! I know the last two chapters were probably unnecessary, but I just couldn't resist. I also know that I didn't go into as much detail (i.e. fiancées, kidnappers, and all the other Ranma goodness) that I probably should have, but can you imagine how long it would have been if I did?! Besides, that just leaves the door open for other "goodnight stories." =)

__

Hope you liked it!

Author's note part 2: A kind reviewer pointed out that this story is very similar to another fanfic entitled "Story." Since the author of "Story" was not named, I assumed the reviewer meant "Story" written by Max-chan. I actually read and thoroughly loved Max-chan's "Story" way before I wrote this and forgot the storytelling technique used until I was reminded by a reviewer. I personally feel that this bedtime story differs enough at least in plotline from Max-chan's that no accusing fingers of plagiarism may be pointed, but others may feel differently. If you are Max-chan and/or have a problem with my story, please let me know ASAP (my e-mail address is jadepak@hotmail.com) and I will remove it. If you haven't read Max-chan's "Story," I HIGHLY recommend it. It's a cute, quick read. 


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